2020 Research Leaders: Leading corporate institutions in Earth & environmental sciences

The 2020 Research Leaders are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Table criteria

Position Institution Share 2018 Share 2019 Count 2019 Change in Adjusted Share* 2018–2019
1 GNS Science, New Zealand 13.45 13.53 48 -2.5% Decrease
2 Norwegian Research Centre AS (NORCE), Norway 3.54 3.58 55 -1.9% Decrease
3 Chevron Corporation, United States of America (USA) 1.29 3.35 8 151.3% Increase
4 Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), United States of America (USA) 7.95 3.30 20 -59.8% Decrease
5 GATS Inc., United States of America (USA) 2.02 2.94 10 41.4% Increase
6 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA), New Zealand 4.87 2.64 33 -47.5% Decrease
7 Ford Motor Company, United States of America (USA) 0.82 2.30 4 171.9% Increase
8 KWH Water B.V., Netherlands 1.74 2.02 13 12.1% Increase
9 Samsung Group, South Korea 0.38 2.00 2 416.8% Increase
10 Shell plc, United Kingdom (UK) 0.92 1.99 9 110.8% Increase
11 Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil), United States of America (USA) 3.82 1.93 9 -51.1% Decrease
12 Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. (AER), United States of America (USA) 3.33 1.70 8 -50.6% Decrease
13 China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), China 1.36 1.69 78 20.2% Increase
14 Danaher Corporation, United States of America (USA) 0.20 1.64 5 693.7% Increase
15 Aerodyne Research, Inc. (ARI), United States of America (USA) 1.07 1.48 14 33.8% Increase
16 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China 4.10 1.41 9 -66.6% Decrease
17 ICF International, Inc., United States of America (USA) 1.46 1.20 3 -19.9% Decrease
18 Beijing Capital Co., Ltd., China 0.32 1.16 6 253.3% Increase
19 CDM Smith Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.92 1.08 2 14.6% Increase
20 SGS SA, Switzerland 0.00 1.00 1 0.0% Increase
20 Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS), United States of America (USA) 0.00 1.00 1 0.0% Increase
20 APTIM, United States of America (USA) 0.96 1.00 1 1.1% Increase
21 Evides N.V., Netherlands 0.70 0.89 5 24.5% Increase
22 Veolia Environnement S.A., France 1.07 0.87 2 -21.4% Decrease
23 Equinor ASA, Norway 0.75 0.86 5 11.7% Increase
24 Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), United States of America (USA) 0.04 0.86 3 1,893.5% Increase
25 China Energy Investment Corporation (China Energy), China 0.00 0.84 2 0.0% Increase
26 Aigües de Barcelona - EMGCIA S.A, Spain 0.00 0.83 3 0.0% Increase
27 Ramboll Environ, Inc., United States of America (USA) 0.18 0.83 2 340.7% Increase
28 Ford-Werke GmbH, Germany 0.00 0.81 1 0.0% Increase
29 Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), New Zealand 0.14 0.80 1 442.7% Increase
30 Engine Shed, United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.75 1 0.0% Increase
30 Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Sweden 0.00 0.75 4 0.0% Increase
31 State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), China 0.49 0.71 1 41.4% Increase
32 Unilever, United Kingdom (UK) 0.00 0.71 2 0.0% Increase
33 China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited, China 0.13 0.69 1 433.0% Increase
34 ALomax Scientific, France 0.00 0.67 2 0.0% Increase
34 ConocoPhillips Company, United States of America (USA) 0.00 0.67 2 0.0% Increase
34 Bodeker Scientific, New Zealand 0.12 0.67 1 456.1% Increase
34 E3-Modelling, Greece 0.00 0.67 3 0.0% Increase
35 Science and Technology Corporation (STC), United States of America (USA) 0.17 0.65 4 280.2% Increase
36 Dow, United States of America (USA) 1.23 0.64 5 -49.4% Decrease
37 Golder Associates Limited, Canada 0.00 0.63 4 0.0% Increase
38 Hazen and Sawyer, D.P.C., United States of America (USA) 0.13 0.60 3 368.8% Increase
39 Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Japan 0.00 0.60 1 0.0% Increase
40 AECOM, United States of America (USA) 0.70 0.58 3 -19.7% Decrease
41 Geosyntec Consultants, United States of America (USA) 1.00 0.58 3 -44.0% Decrease
42 China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC Group), China 0.20 0.56 3 173.0% Increase
43 Estellus, France 0.00 0.53 2 0.0% Increase
44 NorthWest Research Associates, Inc. (NWRA), United States of America (USA) 1.83 0.51 20 -73.0% Decrease

Footnote

Each year, the Nature Index publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs in the previous calendar year. Users please note:

  1. The data behind the tables are based on a relatively small proportion of total research papers, they cover the natural sciences and health sciences only and outputs are non-normalized (that is, they don’t reflect the size of the country or institution, or its overall research output).
  2. The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. The metrics of Count and Share used to order Nature Index listings are based on an institution’s or country’s publication output in 145 natural-science and health-science journals. The journals were selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields. The list is reviewed periodically and journals may be removed or added. Articles from eLife were no longer included in the Nature Index from 2023 after the journal changed its publishing model.
  3. Nature Index recognizes that many other factors must be taken into account when considering research quality and institutional performance; Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals.
  4. Nature Index data and methods are transparent and available under a creative commons licence at nature.com/nature-index/.
  5. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The Nature Index database undergoes regular updating, corrections, adjustment of institutional hierarchies, and removal of retracted papers and thus the live website can differ from the frozen research leaders.